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I have been very busy over the last few weeks creating lots of 100g Silver Forum Bars!
So, for those of you who are new to the forum since last year @ChrisSIlver and I teamed up to create 100g Silver Bars branded with the forum's logo. And I am very proud to announce the first (of many) updates on these bars for 2018.
We are creating 150 of these bars (the same mintage as 2017) and you can RESERVE YOUR BARS TODAY!
These bars are all hand poured, stamped and finished by myself meaning each and every bar is unique in some way. The weights will vary bar to bar (although none less than 100 grams) and the cooling patterns of the silver will also be unique and different for each one.
The allure of hand poured silver is growing stronger month by month and these bars are a brilliant way to start collecting hand poured silver and at the same time supporting the forum and my own business too!
There are a lot of different aspects to tell you about so I have split this post up into various sections, hopefully this will cover most of your questions but if there is something I have not covered then please feel free to get in touch or comment on this thread.
What are the 100g Bars all about?
The 100g Silver Forum Bars have been created as a way to draw the silver forum community together but also as a fund raising and brand awareness raising exercise. Proceeds from the sales of these bars help keep the forum running in the way we have become accustomed to. Premium and Gold Premium memberships go a long way to helping the running of the forum. To help keep the membership prices as low as practical, the 100g silver forum bars proceeds help a lot.
Also, it is about raising the brand awareness of the forum and to encourage new people to join the forum and to make standard members think about supporting the forum by upgrading their membership or simply supporting the forum on a one off basis.
Schedule, production and delivery
I am working towards a completion deadline of the week commencing 3rd September 2018 for these bars to be made, stamped, hallmarked and ready for shipping. They are all individually made and can be quite tricky to pour and make look good at the correct weight. If there are any delays or extensions to this I will let you all know.
Design Change
There is one design change from the 2017 bars. This year we are using an all in one "100g" stamp. I think this makes the bars look a lot more professional and much tidier (as well as cutting down the amount of stamping I need to do!)
Once again we have made the Edinburgh Assay Office Hallmark a feature on these bars siting pride of place on the front. The bars will also have a serial number on the side of the bars.
Hallmarking
As with all of my Hand Poured Silver products these bars will be Assay Tested and Hallmarked by the Edinburgh Assay Office. I will actually be hand delivering them to the Assay Office for hallmarking which should make a very interesting VLOG and I will be doing an interview with the CEO of the Assay Office!
Mintage & Serial Number reservations
The mintage for 2018 will be 150 bars. This mintage is set and will not change. We decided not to increase the mintage this year to keep the exclusivity of the bars as appealing as possible.
Serial number reservation is probably the biggest question that a lot of you will ask. Now, we are never going to be able to please everyone and to that end we gave very careful consideration to how we would go about serial number reservation. So the following is how we will run things.
If you currently own a certain serial number then you will have first refusal at reserving that number for 2018. So, if you bought bar #75 last year then you need to let me know if you want to keep that number. If you do, great it is yours (once you have paid!). If you don't get in touch to let me know before Sunday 26th August then these serial numbers will be opened up to other people.
If you do not own a serial number from 2017 but would like to get one for 2018 - there will inevitably be some serial numbers available in due course. I will start a first come first served waiting list for people without a 2017 bar and we can fairly allocate available bars in due course.
To join the waiting list all you need to do is comment on this thread or drop me a PM.
I hope that all makes sense. In summary, you have until 26th August to reserve your existing serial numbers if you already own them. If you are new, or an existing member who wants additional bars then you need to reply here and I will put you on the first come, first served waiting list.
Prices are set as follows
Standard or Non member price - £80 per bar
Premium member price - £72.50 per bar
Gold Premium member price - £65 per bar
UK Postage: +£3 via Royal Mail Signed for delivery for just one bar
FREE POSTAGE: if you buy more than one bar
International Postage: Please ask for an accurate quote - however I will offer free international standard postage (small top up required for tracked) if you order 3 or more bars.
Forum membership and pricing
As you can see there are some very good savings to be had for upgrading your membership - so take a look at the benefits that are available for premium and gold premium members today!
A few notes on pricing
These bars are hand poured, hand stamped and polished by me. They take a lot of time and energy and equipment to create. These are premium hand poured silver products, not cheap bullion. They are a way to support me (as a fledgling business), my brand and most importantly, The Silver Forum. As I said earlier, proceeds from the sale of these bars go towards the upkeep and running costs of this forum. This helps keep membership prices as low as possible for premium and gold premium members and ensures that standard members can still use this forum for free.
Standard members - The difference in price is as ﻿a way for you to support the forum in a one off style payment rather than signing up for membership. But also please feel free to upgrade your membership to take advantage of the discounts available.
The price also incorporates the Hallmarking costs, this includes postage of these bars to and from Edinburgh and the application of the hallmark.
Payment Information
To secure the reservation of your bars and serial numbers you will need to pay me before 26th August 2018
IF YOU MAKE A PAYMENT PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR SILVER FORUM NAME AS A REFERENCE!!!!!
You can pay by a number of different methods as follows:
PayPal F&F: info@backyardbullion.com
Banks Transfer:
Account No: 76626253
Sort Code: 51-70-06﻿
Credit or Debit Card: For UK customers I can offer payment via Credit or Debit cards - I will need to phone you to complete the transaction.
If you are﻿ interested then please let me know in this thread or via PM.
Also, I welcome all feedback and any questions you might have about these bars.
Thanks for reading and thanks for supporting The Silver Forum!﻿

Hey everyone.
I have just ordered a silver melting kit. A crucible, torch, some heat bricks, some graphite molds, some delft clay with a few holders and some sterling silver (I decided to go for some cheaper silver to learn with before getting some fine silver).
Instead of making bars or normal cast shapes I want to make some different things in the clay. I would love to get the skill level of @BackyardBullion at some point, but that might take some time (quite a lot of time).
I think the first few things I'll make, or try to, will be a spinning top and an egg.
They should be quite easy to mold yet give me plenty of practice with my Dremel. I will be setting up a YouTube channel showing my process and progress to get as much help, advice and motivation to improve my limited skills in this art form.
Any suggestions and ideas would be great and helpful.
I hope to hear from people with things they'd like to see made out of silver.
Thanks people. I hope to hear from you soon.

It is time for the 1 oz Silver Forum bars!
So, for those of you who are new to the forum since last year @ChrisSIlver and I teamed up to create 1 oz Silver Bars branded with the forum's logo. And I am very proud to announce that we are creating another 200 of these for 2018!
These bars are all hand poured, stamped and finished by myself meaning each and every bar is unique in some way. The weights will vary bar to bar (although none less than 31.1 grams) and the cooling patterns of the silver will also be unique and different for each one.
The allure of hand poured silver is growing stronger month by month and these bars are a brilliant way to start collecting hand poured silver and at the same time supporting the forum and my own business too!
So, to that end I am very proud and happy to announce the 2018 1oz forum bars are available now to pre-order and reserve.
There are a lot of different aspects to tell you about so I have split this post up into various sections, hopefully this will cover most of your questions but if there is something I have not covered then please feel free to get in touch or comment on this thread.
There will also be a video going live tomorrow summing up a lot of what I have written here.
What are the 1 oz Bars all about?
The 1 oz Silver Forum Bars have been created as a way to draw the silver forum community together but also as a fund raising and brand awareness raising exercise. Proceeds from the sales of these bars help keep the forum running in the way we have become accustomed to. Premium and Gold Premium memberships go a long way to helping the running of the forum. To help keep the membership prices as low as practical, the 1 oz silver forum bars proceeds help a lot.
Also, it is about raising the brand awareness of the forum and to encourage new people to join the forum and to make standard members think about supporting the forum by upgrading their membership or simply supporting the forum on a one off basis.
Schedule, production and delivery
I am working towards a deadline of the end of April/early May for these bars to be made, stamped, hallmarked and ready for shipping. They are all individually made and can be quite tricky to pour and make look good at the correct weight. I estimate that I will have made all 200 of the bars by mid April and then have them ready for a release date in early May. If there are any delays or extensions to this I will let you all know.
Design Changes & Hallmarking
There are a few design changes from the 2017 bars. Part of this is down to the fact that I have learnt a lot and grown a lot as a silver pourer and craftsman over the last year.
The biggest change is that the Hallmark is going to be on the front of the bars. The hallmark is the most important thing about these poured silver bars. For those of you who do not know a hallmark means that the bars have been tested and their purity is guaranteed to be what I say it is - 999 silver. Having the hallmark is a really great badge of authenticity and gives the bars a lot more desirability, which is very important when buying hand poured silver.
The other significant design change is that this year we are using an all in one "1 ozt" stamp. I think this makes the bars look a lot more professional and much tidier (as well as cutting down the amount of stamping I need to do!)
Mintage & Serial Number reservations
The mintage for 2018 will be 200 bars. This is set and will not change. We decided not to increase the mintage this year to keep the exclusivity of the bars as appealing as possible.
Serial number reservation is probably the biggest question that a lot of you will ask. Now, we are never going to be able to please everyone and to that end we gave very careful consideration to how we would go about serial number reservation. So the following is how we will run things.
If you currently own a certain serial number then you will have first refusal at reserving that number for 2018. So, if you bought bar #75 last year then you need to let me know if you want to keep that number. If you do, great it is yours (once you have paid!). If you don't get in touch to let me know before Sunday 15th April then these serial numbers will be opened up to other people.
Now, this means in theory that all 200 bars could be reserved and sold to people who bought last year. But, I think it is quite unlikely that this will happen. There will be spare numbers from people either not wanting to get bars, not able to get new bars or not taking up as many bars as they did last year.
So, if you are a new member, or an existing member that would like to reserve new bars and serial numbers in 2018 I will be creating a first come, first served waiting list. After the reservation deadline of Sunday 15th April The waiting list will get the opportunity to reserve available numbers.
To join the waiting list all you need to do is comment on this thread. To be fair to all users a maximum of 5 bars per person on the waiting list please and we will then see how it goes for the available numbers and demand.
I hope that all makes sense. In summary, you have until 15th April to reserve your existing serial numbers if you already own them. If you are new, or an existing member who wants additional bars then you need to reply here and I will put you on the first come, first served waiting list.
Prices are set as follows
Standard or Non member price - £25.00 per bar
Premium member price - £22.50 per bar
Gold Premium member price - £20.00 per bar
UK Postage: +£2.50 via Royal Mail Signed for delivery for just one bar
FREE POSTAGE: if you buy more than one bar
International Postage: Please ask for an accurate quote - however I will offer free international standard postage (small top up required for tracked) if you order 5 or more bars.
A few notes on pricing
These bars are hand poured, hand stamped and polished by me. They take a lot of time and energy and equipment to create. These are premium hand poured silver products, not cheap bullion. They are a way to support me (as a fledgling business), my brand and most importantly, The Silver Forum. As I said earlier, proceeds from the sale of these bars go towards the upkeep and running costs of this forum. This helps keep membership prices as low as possible for premium and gold premium members and ensures that standard members can still use this forum for free.
Standard members - The difference in price is as a way for you to support the forum in a one off style payment rather than signing up for membership. But also please feel free to upgrade your membership to take advantage of the discounts available.
The price also incorporates the Hallmarking costs, this includes postage of these bars to and from Edinburgh and the application of the hallmark.
Payment Information
To secure the reservation of your bars and serial numbers you will need to pay me before 15th April 2018
IF YOU MAKE A PAYMENT PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR SILVER FORUM NAME AS A REFERENCE!!!!!
You can pay by a number of different methods as follows:
PayPal F&F: info@backyardbullion.com
PayPal G&S (Please add 5% to the total): info@backyardbullion.com
Banks Transfer:
Account No: 76626253
Sort Code: 51-70-06
Crypto currencies: Litecoin, Bitcoin or Ethereum.
Please not there will be significant additional charges depending on how much it costs me to process and withdraw the funds.
If you are interested then please let me know in this thread or via PM.
Also, I welcome all feedback and any questions you might have about these bars.
Thanks for reading and thanks for supporting The Silver Forum!

Hello everyone!
I mentioned earlier in the year about creating some 250g Silver Forum Bars to compliment the 1oz and 100g Bars.
I have completed my prototype bar and here it is!
These bars are really chunky and have a great feel to them. They have the Silver Forum logo on them as well as "250g", 2018 and of course the all important Hallmark from the Edinburgh Assay Office. They will also have their serial numbers stamped on the side of the bar.
I am now taking pre-orders for these bars. If you would like to have one of these bars made then please let me know by commenting here or PM'ing me.
These bars will be minted to order throughout the year and the mintage will be declared at the end of 2018. Because they are large pieces I am expecting a maximum of 25 of these to be made. But if you all want one please feel free to prove me and @ChrisSIlver wrong.
In terms of reserving specific serial numbers it will be on a first come first served basis. If you would like a specific serial number then please let me know - if more than one person wants the same number we can try and work it out together or simply do a coin toss.
Serial numbers 1 & 2 are reserved for @ChrisSIlver and myself.
Pre-orders, production and delivery
As I mentioned above I will be making these bars throughout the course of 2018. I hope to be able to make these in a number of batches to keep production and hallmarking costs to a minimum. As such I envisage the first batch to be created, stamped, hallmarked and ready for delivery by May 2018.
If you would like to order these bars then I would ask for a minimum of 50% deposit to be paid to secure your bar(s). Feel free to pay the full balance - but I would require at least a 50% deposit.
Prices are set as follows
Standard member price - £200
Premium member price - £175
Postage: +£7.50 via Royal Mail Special Delivery (fully insured) or +£4 for 1st Class Signed (at your risk)
Free Special delivery postage included for more than one item.
A few notes on pricing
These bars are hand poured, hand stamped and polished by me. They take a lot of time and energy and equipment to create. These are premium hand poured silver products, not cheap bullion. They are a way to support me (as a fledgling business), my brand and the Silver Forum. Proceeds from the sale of these bars go towards the upkeep and running costs of this forum. This helps keep membership prices as low as possible for premium and gold premium members and ensures that standard members can still use this forum for free.
Standard members - The difference in price is as a way for you to support the forum in a one off style payment rather than signing up for membership. But also please feel free to upgrade your membership to take advantage of the discounts available.
The price also incorporates the Hallmarking costs, this includes postage of these bars to and from Edinburgh and the application of a large hallmark.
Speaking of which here is a closeup of the hallmark:
If you are interested then please let me know in this thread or via PM.
Also, I welcome all feedback and any questions you might have about these bars.
Thanks for reading and thanks for supporting The Silver Forum!

As much as I enjoy to stack silver, I have decided that i would like to branch off and try something a little different, in the form of melting down and creating my own hand poured silver.
My plan is to start off by melting down small amounts of silver, in the form of 1 oz .999 silver bullion coins, ones that I picked up at a cheap price and that have several scratches etc on them. AKA the "runts" of my silver litter .
Because I am only starting out by melting 1 oz of silver, I have decided to melt the silver using a blow torch with the idea of purchasing a kiln at a later date if things go well.
My ultimate aim is to start off by pouring small 1 oz silver ingots, and in the future I'm hoping to start producing more interesting designs, that being just a distant dream at the moment.
I have carried out some basic research in the form of YouTube videos and online tutorials in how to melt silver at home.
So far I have ordered the following equipment:
1 x Crucible (60mm diameter) 1 x Tongs1 x Graphite Stirring Rod1 x Graphite Crucible Ingot Mold
1x Butane Flamethrower Blow Torch (Maximum firepower: 1,300”C )
Borax - Sodium Tetraborate Decahydrate
So I'm basically just after any advice from anyone on here who has knowledge or experience in this area. Do I need any other equipment? Any Tips? Any good YouTube videos to watch? etc... the more advice the better.
Thanks in advance

Hello everybody!
The 100g Silver Forum Bars are due back from Hallmarking this week! Which means that it is time to start gathering payment for the bars!
Firstly I would just like to say a massive thank you to all the members who have reserved their bars already! We have had 75 of the bars reserved in pre-order. If you would like to add any bars to your existing reservation or if you have not reserved a bar yet then please get in touch! Feel free to comment on this thread to reserve your bars. The following numbers are currently available.
36 - 44, 49, 51 - 55, 57 - 63, 71 - 76, 81, 83 - 84, 86, 89 - 97, 102 - 110, 112 - 121, 124 - 126, 129 - 131, 134 - 138, 141 - 143, 145 - 147
Delivery estimates
Assuming you pay before Sunday 24th September then the first batch of bars will be posted on Monday 25th September. All items will be posted by signed for delivery or special delivery depending on the size of your order.
For those of you who have reserved bar(s) already please can you calculate and make a payment as soon as possible (prices are below). I will be contacting you all individually later in the week as well but I thought posting the payment information here would help reduce the work load!
PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR SILVER FORUM NAME AS A REFERENCE ON ANY PAYMENT!
And once you have made the payment please message me with your delivery address. I may have had your address from previous orders or as part of the group order but I will still need you to confirm what address you want it sending to as I don't know whether it is different or has changed!
Payment information
You can pay via any of the following:
Banks Transfer
Account No. 76626253
Sort Code: 51-70-06
Paypal Friends & Family
Info@backyardbullion.com
Paypal Goods & Services (please add 5% to your total)
Info@backyardbullion.com
Prices are based on membership as follows
Standard member: £83 per bar
Premium member: £75 per bar
Premium gold member: £67 per bar
Postage: +£3 - However free postage will be offered if you purchase more than one bar. International postage will be more - if you would like an accurate quote please get in touch.
So a standard member buying one bar is £86 a premium member buying two bars is £150 you can work out the rest!
If you have any questions regarding payment please let me know! PM me or comment on this thread.

Hello Everyone
I'm new to the forum. I thought I would start off on the right foot by offering a 5% discount coupon for you all to use on our hand poured range.
We at EJP Bullion are a small business that has been running for just over a year. We always try and offer quality items for good fair prices. Please check out our website anything we dont have that you would like us to source for you please let us know via the contact us form. We work with UK Silver smiths and suppliers but also have links in the states and Europe.
Now down to the discount coupon
handpoured#123
Find our hand poured page here:-
http://ejpbullion.com/product-category/silver/hand-poured/
Thanks for your time hope you find something you like.
Regards
EJP Bullion

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